Winner of the Adele Mellen Prize for Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship

Provides the original texts and translations of two early German-language fortepiano manuals by Andreas Streicher (1801) and by Carl Dieudonné and Johann Lorenz Schiedmayer (1824). Also included is a transcription and translation of a related, previously unpublished workshop notebook of Johann David and Johann Lorenz Schiedmayer.

Reviews

“This book is indispensable reading for anyone interested not only in musical matters but the political and moral-aesthetic values in German and Viennese societies between roughly 1780 and 1830.”
– Prof. Malcolm Bilson, Cornell University

“Preethi de Silva’s expertise in the linguistic, cultural, and technical aspects of the subject has produced a lucid and idiomatic translation of the texts, combined with valuable introductory material, annotation, and supplementary material, including details of surviving instruments from the Streicher and Schiedmayer workshops.” - Christopher Nobbs, Royal Academy of Music, London

“. . . of great interest since makers’ instructions and observations on the practice of instrument making are an exceptional rarity. . . . The pianos of the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth centuries were essential tools for some of the greatest musicians in the history of music whose compositions remain amongst the greatest works of art we possess. This collection gives a vivid insight into the working lives of the makers of those instruments.” - Derek Adlam, Curator, Portland Collection

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Foreword by Malcolm Bilson
General Introduction
General Editorial Note
Part I: Andreas Streicher
Brief remarks on the playing, tuning, and maintenance of fortepianos made in Vienna by Nannette Streicher née Stein (1801)
Part II: Carl Dieudonné and Johann Lorenz Schiedmayer
Brief manual on the proper use and knowledge concerning the playing, tuning, and maintenance of fortepianos, especially those made in the workshop of Dieudonné and Schiedmayer in Stuttgart (1824)
Part III: Johann David and Johann Lorenz Schiedmayer
“Werkstattbuch”/ Notebook (1778-ca. 1821)
Glossary
Bibliography
Index